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+--- Thread: Thoughts on pop culture (/thread-145.html)
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- Jensen James - 04-15-2014
I feel as though I should jump in here.
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As we get more extreme in one-direction, we also see elements of society, or even of the culture itself, that are filling the vacuum of the other end with material.
While Spectra represents the dystopian, dark extreme - which is quite fitting given her origins in South America (the 21st century "dark continent") - Jensen's backstory focused on the other extreme. He quickly rose to prominence as a charismatic televangelist because he espoused a religious extreme: reviving the demands of high morality mirroring that of puritanical levels. His church, his books, and his audience gobbled it up. In his words he gave a sense of order to a chaotic world, and by teaching people to adhere to ritualistic high morality demands, individuals found that sense of order in their own lives, one that bled over into religious fervor. His wife, Jessika, embodies this perfectly. Of course this is the root of Jensen's betrayal of his followers. All the things he was saying turned out to be shallow. He is hypocritical - saying one thing and yet doing another - he is a liar, an adulterer, greedy and an embezzler - (how did he have $10 million easily accessible cash on hand that his wife didn't know about?). This is exactly why he is such a controversial figure. He was the leader of this extremely optimistic, pure hope that Connor described, then completely stabbed everything he stood for in the back and walked away. In the meantime, Jessika has kind of taken up where he left off, and as the Texan ray of sunshine she is, has gained so much influence in the past few years. This is also why she wants Jensen to stay under the radar, so his association doesn't spoil what she's made of herself.
So while Spectra represents the darker extreme of non-CCD and non-USA pop culture, Jensen (as he was before) represented the opposite extreme.
Which if you think about it is a very WoT sort of philosophy.
- Connor Kent - 04-15-2014
I would only add that I think the positive elements that would appear in response to the darker elements would probably as varied as those darker elements- ranging from the "pure" hope to stuff more in between. The WOT after all, had its darkness (as does Song of Fire and Ice to a great degree) and yet at the same time, the positive elements (people and events) weren't all bunny rabbits and rainbows. They were just as varied as those that could be termed dark.
What I am saying is that I think that in between Jensen and Spectra's place in the spectrum- elements of pop-culture and indicators of societal needs they fill- there would be others across the spectrum between the them.
Edited by Connor Kent, Apr 15 2014, 10:46 AM.
- Jensen James - 04-15-2014
Indeed. I certainly would not suggest that it's either/or, but rather examples of what those extremes are.
- Connor Kent - 04-15-2014
Yeah, I figured that Jensen. Just didn't want anyone else to misunderstand. :-)
- Takeo - 04-17-2014
What an interesting conversation. I love this kind of speculation.
Not to blare my own horn, but to give another example of the more dystopian-end of the cultural spectrum, I might point out the very Hunger Games/Battle Royale-esque string of combat-trained youth of which Takeo was a part. Not only was it not particularly frowned-upon, but many schools drew funding from televising the exploits and extreme - often fatal - training operations of the children in these programs. This was only about 15 years ago, but there were at least half a dozen such schools in DIV and elsewhere, before they were eventually shut down.
I think tragic oversights like those schools, and the backlash that eventually helped overthrow them, is all part of the ebb and flow, culture and counter-culture of human existence. But, just as Spectra rose out of the adult entertainment industry, Takeo also profited from his seedy past.
In fact, I'm rather amazed Takeo and Spectra have not crossed paths before. Or have they?
But, aside from us, I would tend to agree with a certain desensitization of the modern world under the CCD regime. Some, such as Takeo and Nikolai, obviously push an agenda of "don't look behind the curtain", and I think a lot of people do that just to get by. They go to work, they keep their heads down, they ignore the things they hear in the news - which is obviously highly-regulated anyway - while simultaneously pitying/despising the 'other' world. I see it fairly akin to 1984 in that even with our superior intel, tech and access, we're still in a sense brainwashed to our own culture's propaganda - the CCD demonizes the US, and vice versa.
And now with 'Gods' emerging among the fray, it will be interesting to see how the world reacts. Will more temples be built? Will each of the new Gods have their own followers? Or will people start to see them less as Gods and more as mutants? Is it genetic or divine?
Interesting times ahead.
- Spectra Lin - 04-18-2014
We should arrange a meeting, Takeo. It would be a pleasure to meet a Privilege!